SO DISCLAIMER: There is a good amount of blood and gore in this chapter, think B-Rated horror movie level and I trust you'll use your own judgment to determine if your stomach can handle that.

Happy October y'all.

Ouch!

I don't think I'd ever felt so alive before. The sight of the blue sky, the sounds of the pokemon rustling nearby, the feel of the air whipping past me as I ran through the forest, it was like I was awake for the first time. I didn't know what was happening, but I loved it. I had always felt like I was second best at everything, especially with over-achiever Sammy as my best friend. It just felt like for the first time, I was actually good at something, like I could actually do better than just keep up for once.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sammy. Hell, I might even love Sammy. I don't know, I try not to think about Sammy and I, you know...romantically. My heart starts racing and my hands begin to sweat, it's just better to think about things that aren't impossible. To be fair though, just a few hours ago I had been certain that outrunning Sammy was an impossible feat and at that moment I was leagues ahead of her.

I turned around and began trotting backwards so I could look at her, still so far away. Even with Sammy running at her best she couldn't catch me, and I could tell that it frustrated her. She smirked at me as she fought ever harder to catch up.

"Finally getting tired, Andrew? You can't run that fast forever!"

"Oh I'm feeling fine! I guess forcing me to join the track team kind of backfired, huh? Just think of this as payback for the years of being better than me!" She managed to eke out a laugh at my weak excuse of an insult.

"Is that the best you've got, Ponyta-boy? Your grandma had better insults last night in bed!"

"Mature AND classy! It must really suck to be losing to the 'slowest runner of the team.' If I'm quoting a certain someone right." If her eyes could have turned red with rage they would have. I gulped slightly and turned back around to run away from the demon that was now chasing me.

Only to meet an entirely different demon.

Barely twenty feet away stood a Jolteon, but it looked wrong, its fur was gray, like the color of decay, and it was snarling, its teeth bared to show every tooth in its maw. Seeing it shocked me so much that I lost my footing and found myself falling face first into the dirt and gravel of the path below me. I scratched the right side of my face and bruised my arm where I tried to catch myself as I fell, I could feel the injuries throbbing as I lifted my head to stare at the Jolteon.

"Andrew! Are you okay?! What happened?" Sammy skidded to a halt beside me. Her words sounded far away, like she was yelling down a long hallway. My focus was stuck on the Jolteon. It's eyes...were hypnotic. Their black voids seemed to beckon me to join their endless depths. I could swear I saw a smirk creep up the Jolteon's face. I turned my head just enough to warn Sammy.

Then it attacked.

I felt it's teeth sink into my arm and pull, hard. Everything slowed to an agonizing crawl. My blood went cold while my heart started beating faster than ever. A scream left my throat, raw and unrecognizable as my own.

Dragging me by my arm, the Jolteon threw me on my back and stood on my chest. Just over its head I could see Sammy, her eyes wide in shock and horror. She reached an arm out to help me. Without looking, the Jolteon sent a jolt of electricity that paralyzed her, and took away any hope of her saving me.

My body was numb, I had no idea why this was happening. The Jolteon just stared down at me from its perch, and I had no choice but to stare back. Back into those dark marbles that whispered of death and destruction, my death and destruction. I didn't even realize I was crying until the tears started to blur my vision.

The evil creature threw back its head and howled. It was loud, painfully loud. I used my one good arm to grab my ear and squeezed my eyes shut to try and block the sound. I could feel the ring of the howl bounce around my head long after it had stopped. With my eyes still closed in pain, I felt its weight leave my chest, which was soon replaced with a warm liquid that quickly spread from my chest to my waist, and I realized it was urinating on me, marking me as its own.

With no warning I felt its teeth sink into my left thigh. The pain was so excruciating that it finally knocked me out of my shock. My eyes flew open and I began to realize that my vision wasn't just blurry from tears, a darkness was slowly ebbing in around my sight. I reached for the Jolteon, trying to land some punches on the pokemon to make it release its grip. I kicked and felt the skin and muscles of my thigh moving underneath the creature's teeth, which caused more pain, which forced me to let out another unholy scream. The scream turned into vomit as I wretched and released my breakfast all over myself. The stench was unbearable. I felt it start to drag my body with its grip on my thigh, loosening just enough to rip into more skin. The last thing I remember seeing was alarming amount of blood running out of my leg and the gore dripping from the Jolteon's muzzle before the darkness finally overtook me.

It was horrifying, even beyond anything I'd seen in movies. I stood there, paralyzed. Every muscle, frozen. I couldn't even avert my eyes as Andrew's body was torn apart. And the most terrifying thing of it all was I couldn't see what was causing this carnage. Bite marks appeared at random over Andrew's body, mostly his legs and arms. Chunks of flesh would simply disappear with only blood, muscle, and sinew remaining. I wished I could scream, wished I could run, wished I could fight whatever was doing this. But I stood there, powerless, watching my best friend as he bled out right in front of me.

My emotions swung back and forth between wanting to cry in fear and wanting to punch something. I decided to lean into the anger. Crying wouldn't help anything.

I felt my rage build in my chest and stomach. Even though I was paralyzed, I could feel my heart beat a million times a second. Everything in me fought against my frozen muscles, begging them to move, demanding that they move. I wouldn't lose Andrew, I couldn't. I was going to make whatever was causing this pay, and it had made a mistake in its plan. It thought it could contain me.

With a burst of pure fury, I managed to break free of my paralysis prison. I was aiming for the invisible attacker, but all I grabbed was open air and then hard dirt as I crashed into the ground beside Andrew. I hissed as a sharp pain blossomed from my wrist, I sent a quick prayer that it wasn't broken.

I managed to scramble to my feet and throw a roundhouse kick into the air. Once again, nothing connected with my hit. My heart kept stammering against my chest. My eyes dropped to Andrew, and the rest of me quickly followed.

"Oh gods, Andrew. Please tell me you're awake." I shook him gently. Then a little harder, then I shook him as hard as I dared, but his eyes remained closed, and the color was starting to seep from his face. "No, no, no, nononono. This is not happening, you're going to be fine!" I didn't realize I was yelling until a flock of Pidgey flew away from the tree they had been roosting in.

Without a second thought, I tore off my running hoodie and my shirt along with it. I ripped as many strips of cloth out of my shirt as I could and used them for tourniquets around his leg and arm, praying that it would at least slow the bleeding. I threw my hoodie back on, ignoring the pain in my wrist.

"Okay, Andrew. I'm going to try and stand you up and get you out of here, okay? But you have to help me." Still no response, and he felt colder by the minute. I sent another silent prayer to whatever god we had pissed off and grabbed him by his armpits, heaving him into a sitting position. I squatted with my back to him and took a deep breath. I yelled as I hauled Andrew up so he was laying across my back with his feet dragging behind. I wasn't going to get far like this, but I didn't have another choice. Thank the gods he wasn't much bigger than me.

I clenched my teeth and took a step, then another. I forced myself into a rhythm, one foot after the other, methodical, moving only as fast as I thought he could handle, and started the daunting trek to the forest's entrance, trying to pretend that the wet, warmth running down the backs of my legs was sweat and not blood.

Carla chuckled as she lifted away from the cauldron where she had watched the entire ordeal. From the entrance to her shack emerged the silver Jolteon, its lips still wet from blood.

"Delightful job, if not a tad overkill, but I can hardly blame you." Carla ushered the Jolteon towards the table that still held the cauldron in the center of the room. "Why, with all those years of abuse? All the heartbreak of being abandoned by your own mother?" Carla sniffed dramatically, then threw the Jolteon a Meowth-like grin. "It's delicious."

The Jolteon refused to meet her gaze, and instead kept its focus locked on the cauldron. Carla huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you're no fun. What's the point of a tragic backstory if you won't even shed a single tear for yourself?" The Jolteon offered no response. Carla threw her hands in the air. "Fine. Guess I'll just get along with the magic then, that's all anyone wants from a witch anyway."

Carla grabbed a small glass bottle from a shelf against the wall and placed it carefully below the Jolteon's dripping muzzle. She waited patiently as the glass slowly filled with the red, glistening mixture of blood and saliva. When she was satisfied with the amount, she swiftly dumped the tincture into the cauldron which began boiling immediately as though it had been heated for hours. Carla wiped her hands on her dress and patted the Jolteon gently on the head.

"I suggest you step back a smidge." The cauldron began rocking back and forth on the table, bubbles popping and spilling over its sides. The Jolteon took the witch's advice and took a few cautious steps away from the table. The rocking grew more and more volatile, spilling the cauldron's contents all over the table and onto the floor. Whatever comprised the mixture gave off an acrid stench and made the Jolteon viciously scratch at its snout.

Carla remained calm through it all, almost bored even. As the rocking grew violent enough to make the table whine underneath it, a strange string of words started spilling from Carla's lips. Her chanting caused the cauldron to lift from the table and spin. More drops of the noxious liquid spread across the room, some landed in the Jolteon's fur, who fought its inclination to vomit.

Carla continued her chant, even after the cauldron had finished emptying its contents. The Jolteon looked up at the ageless woman and was about to try and nudge her out of her state when the droplets began to sizzle and steam, filling the room in a thick, red haze. The Jolteon tried its hardest to not breathe in the filth, but eventually it had to give in and gasped, allowing the haze an opening.

The haze eagerly took the opportunity to pour itself into the Jolteon, who was fighting even harder now to not gag and vomit the haze back out. It was just as disgusting and painful as the pokemon had feared. All the while, Carla's chanting kept its steady pace.

The Jolteon's insides felt as though they were bubbling and boiling. It let out a pitiful yelp before it collapsed, unable to withstand the battle raging within itself. Carla's chanting finally ceased without warning. She slowly walked up beside the pokemon as it writhed in pain. She bent down and gingerly picked it up in her arms. Cradling the Jolteon in her arms she crossed the small distance to her bed and wrapped the pokemon in a few thin sheets. As she ran her hands along the pokemon's fur she whispered softly.

"You're in for a long night, my friend. But take solace in the fact that you'll not be the only one suffering tonight."